It’s finally here. After months of anticipation, the next Nintendo X Koei Tecmo partnered game is finally here: “Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity.”
Having been very positive with the demo, and with the full game at my disposal, let’s see If that positivity holds up.
Going to the plot, as it was previously mentioned in the demo impressions, the game starts off with a Little Guardian getting sent back in time 100 years before the Calamity strikes to help and prevent it. From there Link, Impa and Zelda travel all around Hyrule in hopes of recruiting the four champions who control the Divine Beasts.
This in turn would lead them to face many monsters, the Yiga Clan and a mysterious new foe named Astor. Astor tries to stop the trio in the Korok Forest but is ultimately defeated by Link, who gets the Master Sword.
After that, they continue to prepare to set up Sheika Towers, with Zelda trying to unlock her powers that would seal Calamity Ganon forever, but she fails to unlock her powers.
On her 17th birthday, she heads to the Spring of Wisdom with Link, Impa, and the Little Guardian to try to unlock her power, but before she can Calamity Ganon awakens and takes over all the Sheiikah technology and corrupting the divine beat, ultimately taking over Hyrule.
Zelda grieves as she tells herself that everything that she did failed. The small Guardian shoots a beam of light in the sky, looking up to see that Divine Beasts haven’t been totally corrupted yet. The trio try to reach all four champions to save them.
They head to Hyrule Castle with all the tribes and species banding together, ending Ganon’s reign and making Hyrule safe again.
The story was pretty disappointing but exciting, as I was hoping that this was an actual prequel to BOTW, showing more of the story that leads to Link being asleep for 100 years. But what I got was a what-if story of them beating Ganon 100 years before.
Still, though I enjoy seeing the characters from BOTW here and it was an interesting way to change the story and introduce new characters. 
The gameplay is basically the player vs an army on a giant map where you travel to take over an outpost and complete the objective. There’s a lot of variety and many combos and characters to choose from.
As for characters, there’s a wide range to choose from.
Urbossa is a character that uses lightning in her attacks and is able to charge up more and refill it.
Revali is the champion of the Rito tribe. Though not as good on the ground, he makes up for it with air combos making him more useful.
Mipha is considered the healer character, as her special attack next to allies not only hurts enemies but heals all allies, making her the healing mage of the warriors games
Daruk is the heavy hitter of the group with attacks that hurt a lot and can break enemies guard stances really easily.
Each character’s gameplay reflects on their personalities and traits, with each style reflecting each character.
Graphics, frame rate and audio wise, it’s pretty good. Some might see some slowdown or frame drops but that’s due to the special attacks and enemies attacking with big hits but other than that its a minor issue. The game looks and sounds like “Breath of the Wild” and that’s a good thing.
All in all, it’s a great game to pick up as a Christmas present for someone who loves Zelda and Musou style gameplay.
Talon Marks gives “Age of Calamity” ★★★★☆ It’s an enjoyable experience that many would love and would keep players engaged in classic Legend of Zelda fun.
